Starting next week, New Jersey employers have new obligations to disclose certain compensation and benefits information in job listings and promotional opportunities.
The 2024 Pay Transparency Law, which goes into effect June 1, requires employers to disclose in each job posting the hourly wage, salary, or pay range and a description of the benefits and other compensation for which the employee would be eligible. This includes promotional and transfer opportunities, whether advertised internally or externally.
Notably, employers retain the flexibility to increase wages, benefits and compensation from the advertised job posting at the time they make an employment offer. For internal promotions, employers must make a reasonable effort to make the opportunity known to all workers in affected departments. However, employers retain the right to award promotions based on years of experience or on an emergent basis due to an unforeseen event.
Employers Who Must Comply
The law affects any person, business, firm, labor organization or association with 10 or more employees over 20 calendar weeks who wants to advertise an open job or take applications for employment within this state, such as referral and employment agencies.
However, if a temporary help service or consulting firm is posting jobs for the purpose of identifying candidates for potential future openings, rather than an existing open job, they are not required to include salary and benefit information.
Penalties
Any employer that fails to comply with the law would be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $300 for the first violation and $600 for each subsequent violation. The law gives the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development the power to enforce these penalties. However, the law does not give job applicants and employees a “private right of action” allowing them to sue the employer for violations of the Pay Transparency Law.
Background
The new Pay Transparency Law builds upon New Jersey's Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act, which made history as the most expansive pay equity law in the nation when it was first enacted in 2018. The Equal Pay Act prohibits New Jersey employers from discriminating against or discharging an employee for exercising their rights under the law, including requesting, discussing, or disclosing pay-related information. It also prohibits New Jersey employers from asking job applicants about their salary history.
